Love Apple

What happens when a budding female soul trio break up after a single demo session? Usually, nothing. In the case of Love Apple however, that 1978 demo is released by Chicago’s Numero Group. The reason for this is composer (and piano player on the recording) Lou Ragland. When researching this years career-spanning “I travel alone“, the six-song Love Apple demo turned up.

These songs are very special – reportedly, most of them are performed for the very first time. This shows: the songs are full of hesitation, trying to find the right melody and frasing. Time is not important; songs simply extend to allow the three singers to get into the compositions. The result is haunting, deeply soulful and nothing short of hypnotic. It took me some months to finally pick up this release… and it turns out to be one of the highlights of 2012. Available on lp or digitally – you know what to do.